


How Many Ways Can You Say "I Love You"?

by mediwitch3



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pining, SO FLUFFY, anonymous letters, five times fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-15 08:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/525336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mediwitch3/pseuds/mediwitch3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Zayn told Niall he loved him, and the one time Niall finally understood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Many Ways Can You Say "I Love You"?

The first one had left Niall really confused. He didn’t speak Chinese, or whatever asiatic language it was written in, and he had had no idea how to put it through google translate.

我愛你

He had stared at it forever, as if his brain would catch up and understand if he stared at it long enough. But he had never been good with languages, and eventually his eyes had unfocused, blurring the ink on the page to register in his brain as little more than small, black squares. He had taken it to Zayn, who he knew spoke Chinese, in the hopes that he might be able to shed some light on his linguistic confusion.

When he had shown Zayn the ratty scrap of paper, the edges frayed from Niall’s fiddling, he had laughed. The blood had risen unbidden to Niall’s cheeks at the naughty, little chuckle that had fallen from Zayn’s lips, his brain stuttering to a stop with the embarrassment of it all.

“ _What is it?”_  He had asked impatiently, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet.  _“What does it say?”_

“ _It says,”_ Zayn had started, turning his eyes up to meet Niall’s own,  _“I’m in love with you.”_

It was with that that Niall’s brain had quit, his heart chanting obscenities and his stomach trying to find a way out of his body. An immeasurable amount of time had passed with Niall and Zayn simply staring at each other, Zayn’s gaze amused and Niall’s blank. When Niall had finally managed to restart his brain, realizing with a small, unexpected pang that Zayn had merely been reading the translation, and not telling him that he loved him, Niall had shaken his head slightly, trying to clear his mind of the strange thoughts that had begun to plague him. He had grinned at Zayn, holding out his hand for the paper. The corner of Zayn’s mouth had lifted in a crooked smile, his fingers brushing Niall’s gently as the scrap was placed gently into the palm of his hand. Niall’s cheeks had flared once more, and he had snatched his hand away, curling it tightly into his chest.

“ _I, uh, gotta go—”_ he had mumbled hastily, stumbling over his feet as he turned towards the door,  _“Liam wanted me to tune his guitar or something.”_

This was a lie, of course, but Niall hadn’t had any other excuse to leave. The butterflies had settled in his stomach once Zayn’s face was out of sight, but the blood had claimed a home in his cheeks for another hour after the encounter.

_*~*~*~*_

The second time it had happened, Niall had had no idea what language it was in—not even the origin.

मैंआपकेसाथप्यार मेंहूँ

But he hadn’t needed to know. It was written in the same, careful penmanship as the first, the ink dark and soaked into the oddly shaped piece of paper. Niall had frowned down at it, eyes taking in the deliberately misshapen edges, before going to his bedside table, where the first piece still lay. He had held the two scraps in his hands, looking them over carefully, before slowly slotting them together. The newest piece had been slightly rounded on the outside, the edges crisp and undamaged. The first piece, that Niall had  _not_ been playing with for the last week, had been soft from multiple foldings and fingers that smoothed out the creases, the pointed end curling awkwardly. A square had gaped where the two pages met, an obvious sign that whoever was sending these messages had intended to continue.

Excitement had bubbled in Niall’s stomach, questions of who it could be circling his mind. A dull knock had sounded from the wood of his door, and he had hastily shuffled the papers out of sight in time to see Zayn smirking from the doorway. The dark haired boy had pointed at Niall’s hands, which he had stuffed behind his back, and he had sidled further into the room.

“ _Whatcha got there?”_  Zayn had questioned, the smug look not leaving his face. He had reached forward, laughing slightly as Niall had shaken his head and backed up, carefully grasping his friend’s wrist.  _“Another note? In… Hindi, looks like.”_

“ _Wait,”_ Niall had frowned, peering up at Zayn’s face as he read the message,  _“You read Hindi?”_

“ _Sort of,”_ Zayn admitted, running a finger over the words,  _“I wanted to take another language, and my mum suggested Hindi—no idea why. I ended up not liking it much, but I remember bits and pieces. ‘I’m in love with you’ is one of those pieces, just because I was trying to impress a girl with my language skills—it didn’t work out, obviously.”_

Niall had chuckled, watching as Zayn had carefully taken the other piece of paper from Niall’s lax grip, fitting the two together and raising an eyebrow.

“ _A puzzle,”_ Zayn had said, a smile lighting up his eyes,  _“Looks like you’ll be getting more of these, huh Nialler? Someone really seems to love you.”_

“ _Yeah, looks like they do,”_ Niall had responded quietly, eyes trailing from Zayn’s face to watch as Zayn’s fingers had fiddled with the paper,  _“Careful, please,”_  he had requested, his own hands moving to still Zayn’s,  _“I don’t want them ripped.”_

“ _Sure thing, Niall,”_ Zayn had whispered back, his fingers twitching slightly under Niall’s. Niall had stared into his friend’s eyes for what felt like forever, wondering when Zayn was going to kiss him, before the thought had finally caught up with him, jolting him out of his reverie. He had released Zayn’s hands, taking a step back quickly enough to fall onto the bed. He had sat on the edge of it, staring up at his friend, who had only stared back. Niall had cleared his throat, holding out a shaky hand.

“ _Could I have them back, please?”_ He had asked, his voice soft. Zayn had flushed red, shoving the papers into Niall’s hand and backing towards the door.

“ _Yeah, sure, sorry—I gotta go make lunch,”_  and with that he had left, Niall still watching as the door swung shut behind him.

*~*~*~*

The third time, Niall went straight to Zayn—no hesitation or uncertainty whatsoever. Zayn had smiled at his approach, evidently just as excited to see the new language as Niall was.

Είμαι ερωτευμένος μαζί σου

“ _Greek,”_ Zayn had laughed,  _“Do I even need to tell you what it says?”_

“ _I’m in love with you,”_ Niall had whispered back, eyes not moving from Zayn’s face,  _“I wish whoever it was would stop writing in these weird languages… I can’t identify their handwriting without normal letters!”_

“ _Niall,”_ Zayn had chuckled, looking up from the puzzle piece to give Niall an exasperated look, _“That may be the point—whoever it is clearly doesn’t want you to know just yet.”_

“ _Well, I wanna know,”_ Niall had pouted, snatching the paper back and scrutinizing it through glaring eyes,  _“Dammit, I wanna know!”_

“ _I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough,”_ Zayn had smiled, ruffling his hair,  _“They must be running out of languages!”_

“ _I hope so,”_ Niall had replied petulantly. Zayn had laughed once more, slinging an arm around him and pulling him out the door.

“ _C’mon,”_ Zayn had grinned, tugging gently,  _“Nandos will cheer you right up! And take your mind off this mystery linguist.”_

“ _You know I can’t resist Nandos,”_ Niall had smiled softly, willing to follow Zayn wherever he went.

*~*~*~*

The fourth time, Niall was with Zayn when he found the note, stuffed carefully into one of his trouser pockets.

میں آپ کے ساتھ محبت میں ہوں

“ _That’s Urdu,”_ Zayn had breathed, gathering the paper up and examining it as Niall changed out of his sweaty rehearsal clothes,  _“It’s similar to Arabic, a bit.”_

“ _Does it still say—h”_ Niall had begun, but Zayn had cut him off.

“ _I’m in love with you,”_ and Zayn’s eyes had shone brightly as he said the words again. Niall had swallowed hard around the lump in his throat, busying himself with the laces on his shoes.

“ _This person had better reveal themselves soon, or I’m going to get really frustrated,”_ Niall had muttered. And with that, the subject was dropped.

*~*~*~*

The fifth time, Niall cried. Zayn had held him close to his chest, chuckling and whispering sweet things into Niall’s ear, as his distraught friend had wailed obscenities into his t-shirt.

أنا تماما في الحب معك. أنت الشمس والقمر والنجوم والأرض. كنت تحمل كل شيء من الألغام، ومني، وإذا كنت لا تحبني كما أحبك، وأنا سوف تنفجر.

“ _That’s arabic,”_ Zayn had told him,  _“But it doesn’t say ‘I’m in love with you’.”_

“ _What does it say then?”_ Niall had asked impatiently. Zayn hadn’t lifted his graze from the page once as he read it out loud.

“ _I’m completely in love with you. You are the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth. You hold everything of mine, and of me, and if you don’t love me as I love you, I will burst,”_  Zayn’s eyes had shimmered, and his voice had been rough as he finished,  _“Someone obviously loved you very much, Niall.”_

“ _I wish I knew who they were!”_ Niall had exclaimed, frustrated tears spilling over his eyelids,  _“I can’t deal with this anymore! I want to know!”_

“ _I’m sure it’ll happen soon,”_ Zayn had assured him, gathering him into his arms,  _“I wouldn’t worry.”_

“ _They can’t just go around giving people notes, that form a heart without a center, that say ‘I’m in love with you’ in different languages!”_ Niall had wailed desperately into his chest, unsure why he was so upset, but clinging to Zayn in any way he could,  _“They should tell me in English! And to my face!”_

“ _Niall,”_ Zayn had whispered soothingly, pressing his face into his blond friend’s hair,  _“I promise you, whoever it is will do it. It wouldn’t make sense for them not to.”_

Niall had only been able to sob in response, his tears marring the fabric of Zayn’s shirt. Zayn only held him, rocking him carefully and cradling him in his arms like he was the most precious thing in the world.

*~*~*~*

The day after Niall received his message in Arabic, a new one arrived. It was carefully folded in a neat, little square, and placed on his pillow. Niall froze, unsure if he wanted to read this one. There was only one piece left in the puzzle, and this had to be the revelation of it all. For all he had been impatient the day before, Niall suddenly found himself very anxious, not knowing if this new message would fix anything. With shaking hands, he unfolded the paper, taking his time to smooth out each individual square.

_I’m in love with you._

Niall’s breath hitched, his mind racing. He turned, fleeing from his room. He knew who it was—he should have seen it sooner.

“It was you,” he breathed as he came to a halt, Zayn looking up from the newspaper he was reading at the table, coffee beside him, “It was you this whole time.”

“What was me?” Zayn asked, trying desperately to keep the nerves out of his voice.

“The letters,” Niall told him, brandishing the square paper with Zayn’s messy handwriting scrawled across, “Why didn’t I see it! It couldn’t have been a coincidence that you knew every language that I was being told in!”

“Niall,” Zayn started, his hand lifting off the table in an aborted attempt to reach for his friend. It flopped forlornly at his side as he stood. “Yeah. It was me.”

“I knew it,” Niall exclaimed breathlessly, moving towards Zayn, “I knew it.”

“I’m sorry!” Zayn whispered, hanging his head, “I am so sorry—I couldn’t not tell you anymore. It was killing me.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Niall pleaded softly, stopping nary a hair’s breadth away, his eyes shining and his cheeks flushed, “Never be sorry.”

And with that, he kissed him. Zayn’s eyes widened briefly in shock, before everything went slack, his mouth opening to let Niall’s tongue push passed his lips. Zayn’s hands settled on Niall’s hips, Niall’s own hands making their way up to Zayn’s hair. They stood like that, kissing each other as the suns rays filtered through the windows, shadows dancing across the walls. And the final piece of fluttered to the floor.

_I’m in love with you._

**Author's Note:**

> i don't speak any of the languages used in this i used google translate so if they're wrong i'm sorry feel free to correct me k thx bi


End file.
